YOU: The Most Important Choices
For Making Yourself Younger:
“YOU Turns”
By Dr. Michael F. Roizen
Co-Author of 4 #1 NY Times Bestsellers including: YOU Staying Young. The Owner’s Manual For Extending Your Warranty (Free Press) and YOU: The Owner’s Manual. An Insider’s Guide to Your Body That Will Make You Healthier and Younger (Harper Collins)
Our basic premise is that your body is amazing: You get a do over: it doesn’t take that long, and isn’t that hard if you know what to do. In these notes, we give you a short course in what to do so it becomes easy for you and then to teach others. We want you to know how much control you have over your quality and length of life
Last month (you did read and memorize that column we wrote, didn’t you?), we came to the conclusion that the most important tips to Staying Young are:
1. Understand you get a do over and it’s not that hard and it doesn’t take that long if you know what to do.
2. Start with walking.
3. Recruit a buddy and call daily.
Now, we want to add another: 4. Learn how to make YOU-turns. What do we mean by that? Well let’s talk about what a buddy does: You and your buddy talk daily to help support each other. Don’t be judgmental if your buddy tells you she ate 7 of Mrs. Field’s chocolate cookies yesterday. It isn’t saying “tsk tsk” for having those seven cookies. You need to find out what you can do to encourage her, to help her make YOU-Turns in life. Remember, it isn’t the first cookie or even the first seven cookies that are a problem; it’s thinking the rest of the box of cookies looks good. If you can correct your mistakes early enough, you can make a YOU-Turn and stay on a healthy track. What do we mean by YOU-Turn?
If you’ve ever ridden in a car with a GPS satellite navigation system, you know how it works. Plug in your destination, and the system – using satellites to plot your current and final points – tells you exactly what to do when. Turn left after 400 feet. Stay straight. Get in right lane. But let’s say you make a mistake and miss a turn or turn onto the wrong street. The GPS doesn’t berate you, doesn’t scold you, doesn’t tell you that you might as well drive off a cliff, since you make a mistake and missed First Avenue. Instead, all it says, very politely, is this. “At the next available moment, make an authorized U-turn.” YOU-reka! The GPS recognizes the mistake matter-of-factly and simply guides you back onto the right road. The GPS allows you to make mistakes and tries to help you correct them. That’s the kind of mentality we want you to have and especially for your buddy to have. Your buddy and you are going to make wrong turns. You’re going to turn left at the cookies, make a right at the blueberry pie, and occasionally merge onto the interstate at banana nut pancakes with a side order of sausage patties. Does that mean you should steer off the cliff and onto destructive behaviors? Of course not. Your job as a buddy is to help the other person make that “YOU-turn”: Get back on the right road and get healthy together. And enjoy your passions longer
So the most important tips that we can give anybody are:
1. Understand you get a do over and it’s not that hard and it doesn’t take that long if you know what to do.
2. Start with walking.
3. Recruit a buddy and call daily.
4. Learn how to make YOU-turns.
About the author:
Michael F. Roizen, M.D., is a professor of anesthesiology and internal medicine, Chief Wellness Officer, and chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Roizen can be heard on over 30 radio stations Saturdays from 5 to 7 pm. For a listing, just email a request to YouDocs@gmail.com
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